The present invention concerns improvements relating to journey planning and more particularly though not exclusively to an integrated journey planner and a method of providing integrated journey travel information. The integrated journey planner, more specifically referred to as a Comparison Navigator(trademark), can combine timetabled information (for rail for example) and non-timetabled information (for cars for example) to provide integrated journey information. A specific road routing engine for implementing searches between user selected geographical locations to return the best road route, according to user preferences (usually speed), can also be used with the integrated journey planner.
While Europe, for example, enjoys a sophisticated public transport and road network system, journey planning is not a straightforward process. Deciding on how to get between different geographical locations usually entails multiple enquiries to different operators and/or reliance on travel agents or other intermediaries.
There are several different ways in which journey planning can be achieved at present and these are described in turn.
One of the most common types of systems currently employed is a central reservations system (CRS). Examples of some of the largest CRSs are Sabre. Amadeus Gallileo and Worldspan. Each of these systems has a large corporate client base and provides information mainly to corporate/travel agent clientele.
These systems rely on huge centralised databases of information which are accessible for travel information, for checking holiday availability and for making bookings. Travel information is usually provided regarding terminus to terminus (airport to airport for example) travel and requires an experienced operator familiar with specific system commands to access the information. Accordingly, customers normally access the database indirectly by using a travel agent who subscribes to the central reservations system.
The expertise and legacy mainframes of these systems are more designed towards bookings/reservations, than travel planning. The type of information obtained from these central databases is limited to a single operator or to a single mode of transport such as air or rail and cannot provide details regarding other modes of travel and cannot provide any integrated travel information. By integrated travel information (also known as multi-modal travel information) it is meant information linking together different modes of transport of different service providers to provide information for a single journey. Furthermore, the information can only be provided between predetermined access points of the service provider""s network, with the user having to determine themselves where the most appropriate (usually nearest) access points to the network are from where they wish to start and finish their journey.
Dedicated on-line travel systems have recently entered the journey planning market place. These companies provide greater accessibility than CRSs because they enable customers to have direct access to them via the Internet. Examples of companies currently providing these services are expedia.com ebookers.com. travelocity.com, previewtravel.com, biztravel.com. and thetrip.com. Whilst the on-line user interface has been improved to enable non-experienced browsers to use the system, each on-line travel system is ultimately powered by a CRS and still suffers from the most of the limitations ascribed to this type of system.
These on-line travel systems now offer so called xe2x80x98comprehensivexe2x80x99 travel information and reservation facilities. All are accompanied by map viewing options, local resort information, country information and some degree of journey planning. However, they feature only air, hotel, car rental and holiday packages services. No other transport options are available for booking. Moreover, none of the services is designed or capable of providing user-defined location-to-location (point-to-point) journey details or multi-modal travel planning.
Recently, a few autoroute planning services have been created for use over the Internet. Examples of these are mapquest.com, mapblast.com and mapsonus.com. While successful and impressive, all are very US biased and are strictly focused on one means of transportxe2x80x94the car. Many offer only limited interactivity and generally use severely restricted map data sets: this ultimately is determined by a geographic database which supports the service. The dominant player. Mapquest is beginning to offer street level road planning in the UK. Michelin which also started recently, is the first service to offer a complete European road route planning service over the Internet.
Germany""s national railway (bahn.de) has set up an Internet journey planning facility covering Continental Europe. The service offers only train planning, road journeys, for example, are not available. The service has recently incorporated an e-ticketing facility, although that is restricted to journeys starting from Germany.
All of the existing journey planners require the user to identify start and end locations (termini) for a mode of transport which have been selected by the user as being the most appropriate to their actual start and end locations. This may frequently waste time as the terminus selected may not be included on a particular service provider""s network. For example, if a user lives in Watford and wishes to go to Geldrop (a suburb of Eindhoven in the Netherlands) they may select the closest airports Luton and Eindhoven. However, there may not be any possible flight from Luton to Eindhoven or the service provider who does fly to Eindhoven may not have Luton on their service network. Rather it may only be possible to fly from City Airport to Eindhoven or Heathrow to Eindhoven and the user would either simply not be able to determine a possible travel option or would spend a great deal of time trying out different termini combinations until one combination provided a possible option.
All of the above Internet journey planners are limited to a single mode of transport and do not address any issues relating to a total integrated multi-modal travel planning facility. Further the comparison of different modes of transport is not possible.
Over the past 25 years no European service has been able to offer truly integrated journey services on anything near a national, let alone, a Continental scale. The fragmented nature of the different transport groups, many of which are still in nationalised ownership, have made the task of data collection and system integration difficult. Even the recent emergence of Internet based journey planners in Europe, which enable users to make bookings themselves directly, typically only cover one mode of transport, thereby failing to inform users on all (and the most suitable) transport options available.
In summary, all the above existing systems fall significantly short both in the scope of transport options made available to the customer and in the integrated and comparative approach required for a travel planning service.
The present invention seeks to overcome at least some of the above described problems and other limitations of the prior art approaches.
It is desired to provide a method and system for providing complete journey information from user defined start and end points which are not restricted to predefined locations on a transport network.
It is also desired to provide an integrated travel planning system which provides the user with all of the currently available transport options for getting between two locations.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of providing journey information to a user, the method comprising: receiving unique location reference information identifying the start and end locations of the user-defined journey; considering at least some possible predetermined pairs of access points to a transport network of a single mode of transport, the access points being at different locations than the start and end locations; selecting those pairs of access points which minimize a selection factor between the start and end locations and the access points respectively; generating an information request containing a selected pair of access points and sending the request to a knowledge store holding information regarding the single mode of transport; and constructing a travel option for the user specified journey from the response received from the knowledge store.
The present invention, which is embodied in a service product called a Comparison Navigator(trademark), provides a significant advantage over the prior art systems in that it lets the user determine the start and end points of the journey in an unrestricted way. There is no need for the user to select a network terminal for a given transport service provider, as the present invention can provide the most appropriate terminal for the user""s requirements. Therefore, advantageously the user does not have to have any knowledge current of otherwise of schedules or operation configurations of travel service providers to plan a journey.
Preferably the selection factor comprises the route cost, the route distance or the route travelling time between the access points and the start and end locations. These factors enable the most appropriate access point to the user-defined location to be selected. The selection factor may be weighted by consideration of the distance of the user-defined journey. This enables the issue of the user connection to the access point to be considered in context with the overall journey. For example, a user living in Exeter may be prepared travel to London to take a flight to Jamaica but may not consider it appropriate to travel to London for a flight to Glasgow.
The considering step may comprise for a given service operator considering only those pairs of access points which are available as part of the service operator""s network service. This optimisation speeds up the process of identifying the most appropriate access points to make a routing request. Therefore, the user can simply specify a particular service operator and the most appropriate access points to the service provider""s network are provided.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for providing journey information to a user, the system comprising: input means for receiving unique location reference information identifying the start and end locations of the user-defined journey; means for considering at least some possible predetermined pairs of access points to a transport network of a single mode of transport, the access points being at different locations than the start and end locations, selection means for selecting those pairs of access points which minimise a selection factor between the start and end locations and the access points respectively; requesting means for generating an information request containing a selected pair of access points and sending the request to a knowledge store holding information regarding the single mode of transport; and constructing means for constructing a travel option for the user specified journey from the response received from the knowledge store.
The present invention also extends to a computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to perform the above described method. It is to be appreciated that the computer program may be embodied on a recording medium or on an electrical carrier signal.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an integrated journey planner for providing travel information for a user specified journey; the journey planner comprising: means for deconstructing a user enquiry specifying the journey into a plurality of information requests, each specifying a part of the journey using a single mode of transport; means for sending each request to an appropriate one of a plurality of knowledge stores, each store holding travel information regarding a different mode of transport, and means for reconstructing the responses to the requests received from the plurality of knowledge stores into at least one multi-modal travel option, for the user specified journey, incorporating different modes of transport.
In this way, fully integrated multi-modal travel planning services can be provided to the customer. It enables on a single screen, display of all the possible routes, modes of transport, fares, times and distance to get travellers to their desired destination. Furthermore, the planner can be arranged to provide a real-time reservation service via the Internet such that the best trip can simply he booked by one mouse click.
The integrated travel planner provides a centralised point to find out how best to get from A to B. The customer only has to determine xe2x80x98startxe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98endxe2x80x99 points and the planner can calculate and compare all the possible routes and transport options, together with; full timetables, turn by turn driving instructions (where applicable), fares, weather report enroute, points of interest, traffic information etc. If a user enters preference information in an enquiry, the results can be filtered or ranked according to the users preferences. A detailed analysis of all the relevant transport options based on the traveller""s budget, speed and comfort requirements can be readily provided.
An example of how the multi-modal travel planning sea vice provides the user with more travel options than have ever been available from a single enquiry is now provided. A typical example is a trip from a location in London to a location in Paris which the customer enters as an enquiry. On the customer""s screen, the following travel option information would be provided:
By Car, By Ferry, By Car:
xe2x80x98drive to Dover (turn by turn directions)xe2x80x94take the PandO ferry (relevant timetables displayed) to Calaisxe2x80x94drive to specified location in Paris (turn by turn directions)xe2x80x99:
By Tube, By Train, By Tube:
xe2x80x98take the Underground to Waterloo (station and line interchange directions)xe2x80x94board the Eurostar to Gare De Nord. Paris (complete with relevant timetables, fares, availability and xe2x80x98Book Nowxe2x80x99 options)xe2x80x99xe2x80x94take the Paris Metro to the station nearest the specified location (station and line interchange directions):
By Tube, By Air, By Tube:
xe2x80x98take the Underground to Heathrow (station and line interchange directions)xe2x80x94take Air France to Paris (relevant timetables, fares, availability and xe2x80x98Book Nowxe2x80x99 options)xe2x80x99, take the Paris Metro to the station nearest the specified location (station and line interchange directions):
By Tube, By Air, By Tube:
xe2x80x98take the Underground to Heathrow (station and line interchange directions)xe2x80x94take British Airways to Paris (relevant timetables, fares, availability and xe2x80x98Book Nowxe2x80x99 options)xe2x80x99, take the Paris Metro to the station nearest the specified location (station and line interchange directions):
By Car, By Air, By Car:
xe2x80x98drive to Heathrow (turn by turn directions)xe2x80x94take Air France to Paris (relevant timetables, fares, availability and xe2x80x98Book Nowxe2x80x99 options)xe2x80x99xe2x80x94drive to specified location in Paris (turn by turn directions)xe2x80x99:
By Car, By Air, By Car:
xe2x80x98drive to Heathrow (turn by turn directions)xe2x80x94take Swissair to Paris (relevant timetables, fares, availability and xe2x80x98Book Nowxe2x80x99 options)xe2x80x99xe2x80x94drive to specified location in Paris (turn by turn directions)xe2x80x99;
Clearly there would be many different possible options and in order to make the determined data as relevant as possible, the results are preferably ranked according to a user specified criteria for example, speed, cost, timing, most scenic route.
Preferably, the integrated journey planner further comprises a user enquiry processing means for understanding and linking the enquiry to associated locally stored data.
The processing means may advantageously comprise a name resolver arranged to interpret the user specified journey by finding the closest matches of pre-stored data to the user specified journey and arranged to use artificial intelligence to determine its acceptance. This simplifies use of the travel planner because it has the ability to tolerate misspellings and human error.
The name resolver may be arranged to provide a list of closest matches for user selection if the user specified journey is sufficiently different from the closest matching pre-stored data. In this way the planner can even make intelligent suggestions as to the likely locations the user wished to enter.
Preferably, the integrated journey planner further comprises an assignment means for assigning pre-stored data to a data record representing the user enquiry, the pre-stored data being associated with the user specified journey. This enables huge optimisation of the journey planning process to be achieved. For example, if the respective areas in which two user entered locations are situated can be obtained in this way, then all of the relevant pre-stored travel interconnection information between the start and end locations becomes available very quickly by means of a simple look-up table.
Furthermore, the assignment means may be arranged to assign to the start and end locations of the user defined journey, the closest known access points to a transport network for each mode of transport. This also reduces the computational burden and thereby increases the speed in determining a route between the start and end locations using each of the possible transport options.
The deconstructing means is preferably arranged to breakdown the specified journey on a geographical basis per transport mode and then in order to generate the minimum necessary time information, send off a batch of search requests in parallel the results of which will generate time information for the next batch to be sent off, and so on. This is a compromise between speed and minimal of data generation/accuracy but provides a practical optimum solution.
The present invention also extends to a method of providing integrated journey travel information between two user selected locations, the method comprising: deconstructing a user enquire specifying the two locations into a plurality of requests each specifying part of the journey using a single mode of transport; sending each request to an appropriate one of a plurality of knowledge stores, each store holding travel information regarding a different mode of transport: and reconstructing the responses to the requests received from the plurality of knowledge stores into at least one journey option, between the two user selected locations, incorporating different modes of transport.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of providing integrated journey travel information for a user specified journey; the method comprising: sending a plurality of requests, each representing part of the journey, to a plurality of knowledge stores, said stores providing timetabled and non-timetabled information regarding different modes of transport; and reconstructing the responses to the requests received from the plurality of knowledge stores into at least one multi-modal transport option, for the user specified journey, incorporating timetabled and non-timetabled modes of transport. In this way, road routing data can advantageously be combined with any travel information from any service provider.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining a route between start and end map locations, the method comprising: searching a network of nodes, representing road data at a plurality of geographic road locations and neighbouring locations, in a recursive manner to establish a route between the nodes representing the start and the end locations; and traversing the selected route from the end node to the start node optimising the route selection along the route from each intermediate node to the end node.
This is a powerful way of obtaining road information which is particularly suited to providing fast data accesses. This is optimised if the method further comprises creating the network of nodes representing road data at a plurality of geographic road locations, each node storing information about its neighbouring nodes. This network representation enables rapid implementation of the search algorithm.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining a unique location reference from user-specified location name, the method comprising: reading a user-specified location name; interpreting the user-specified location name by finding the closest matches thereto from pre-stored location names having predetermined unique location references associated therewith; accessing demographic data regarding the closest matches from a geographic/demographic database of the predetermined location references; and ranking the closest matches in order of the demographic size of each possible match.
Presently preferred embodiments of the present invention incorporate most if not all of the above described features and subsequently have distinct advantages over the prior art methods and systems. More specifically, the present embodiments can be considered to be travel planning and navigation service technology platforms. They offer a complete and comparative mobility solutionxe2x80x94from planning a journey, comparing the options, optimising the route to booking. Based on the user""s location, the present embodiments can calculate the nearest and best stations/airports/ferry ports, optimise the best routes, create uni and multi-modal travel alternatives and combine the journey solutions with a real-time XML/HTML database interrogation function to offer a personalised comparative menu on the best ways to get from user-defined start to finish locations. The embodiments can support real-time travel conditions and location sensitive parameters to further guide and track users on the go and can deliver up-to-date timetables, cost comparisons and booking functionality.
The presently preferred embodiments deliver a location-based journey solution that combines real-time information about public and private travel options in relation to the traveller""s precise location and preferences. As will be elaborated later, the process begins with the interpretation of the user location information (delivered either manually or via automated GPS and/or wireless network applications using, for example, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) which is an industry standard for providing Internet access and other services, such as email, over wireless networks and is designed to provide such services to digital mobile telephones and other wireless terminals across different types of wireless networks). Once the XY (co-ordinates) positions of a start and an end point of a journey have been established, the system calculates the best ways of carrying out the journey. Algorithms factor in the most suitable (often nearest) airports, stations and ferry ports and construct optimised uni/multi-modal ways of going about the journey. Also factored In are user preferences for speed, cost or travel via desired points and the best travel companies that can satisfy the full/parts of the journey. Real-time processing of timetable, price and availability takes part simultaneously to routes construction and multiple route engines (road, timetable or direct web links) are called to provide the relevant information. Final processing then delivers an integrated comparative view on multiple journey options. Uniquely, users receive comparisons between different modes of transport and a variety of multi-modal journey solutions. All options give real-time cost, time, duration, timetables, directions and links to online booking and reservation. The information can be delivered on any digital platform and device.